INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION: AN INCREASINGLY PROMINENT DISCOURSE

Introduction:

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. It can be generally defined as the set of interconnected structural elements that provide framework supporting an entire structure of development. It is an important term for judging a country or region's development. This view is supported by Arasu (2008) that infrastructure is an umbrella term for many activities referred to as “social overhead capital” by such development economists as Nurkse, Rosentein-Rodan and Hirschman.

Infrastructure and Development:

Infrastructure is an important element in policy making spheres and debates. The links between  infrastructure  and  economic  growth  are  widely  studied  and  the  elements within  infrastructure  for  development  include:  access  to  roads,  access  to water  and sanitation,  electricity,  telecommunication,  housing,  ports  and  airports (Fay  and Morrison,  2006). Development is a  highly  contested  term (Sánchez, n.d). Development of a country to a large extent can depend on the level of infrastructure that the country has, as infrastructure acts as the wheels that propel economic growth, reduce poverty and sustain the environment. It is important that the services provided need to respond to effective and efficient demand as service is the goal and measure of a country’s development. Economic development can occur if a country has a certain level of infrastructure development, like roads, telecommunication and potable water supply among others. The adequacy of infrastructure helps determine a country’s success or failure which is usually assessed using the diversification of production, expansion in trade, and how population growth is coped with to reduce poverty and improve environmental conditions.

It is important to note that, good infrastructure has the potential of raising productivity and lowering production costs, but it has to expand fast enough to accommodate growth. For example, the provision of transportation infrastructure can lower the cost a farmer has to bear to send his produce to the market. Again infrastructure provision should be able to meet the demand of society (households), firms and businesses and government. It has also been reported that as a country’s income increases the amount of infrastructure increases in turn. According to World Bank (1994), an increase in 1% in per capita GDP led to total stock of infrastructure by 1%, household access to safe water also increased by 0.3%, power by 1.5%, telecommunication by 1.7%. It is therefore evident from the foregoing that infrastructure provides higher pay off to economic growth.

However, the relationship between infrastructure and economic development has been contested within infrastructure's impact on economic development. The relationship between infrastructure and economic development is quite complex.  Although infrastructure development is important and necessary for industrial take-off and economic growth, the desire for growth does not necessarily mean higher or increased need for infrastructure and more infrastructure does not necessarily guarantee more economic growth (Romp and de Haan, 2005).

Kessides (1993) suggests that the absence of certain infrastructure can retard growth, thus provision of infrastructure directly affects the earning capacity of the locality looking at two time frames of when there was no infrastructure compared to the presence of some infrastructure e.g. communication, transport and power can bring about growth in an economy. This view suggests that the presence of the infrastructure is directly linked to the growth in the area under study. On the other hand, Ajibola et al (2013) establishes that infrastructure provision alone cannot bring about economic growth except other factors like locational factorsshould be taken into consideration in assessing the development of an area.

According to World Development Report of 1994 (World Bank, 1994), some sectorial studies covering 85 districts in 13 India states found that the provision of rural infrastructure specifically transport and irrigation helped lower transport cost which led to farmers having greater access to markets, and led to higher yields with banks lowering cost of borrowing to farmers which permitted the farmers to purchase fertilisers to increase productivity in addition to the good weather and soil fertility. It is therefore apparent that there is a strong relationship between the existence of infrastructure (e.g. transport, power and safe water) and per capita GDP.

Infrastructure and Environmental Sustainability:

Infrastructure development is not simply about wealth creation but more on protecting the environment. In a broader sense, it is caring for people and their quality of life for both present and future generations (Environmental Agency, 2000). Infrastructure provision looks at the interaction between activities performed by humans and the place of performance which is the natural environment e.g. mining, electricity, irrigation, road construction, farming, water, etc. This further established the fact that people need to engage in these economic activities to raise productivity and enhance their standard of living, but it is important that the necessary environmental measures are put in place to sustain the environment.

The relationship between infrastructure provision and environment is complex and would need to be assessed well through Environmental Assessments. This takes care of environmental issues, carried out on every large project particularly posse serious risk to the environment and efforts should be made to mitigate these impacts. Example of these projects are re-construction of the Accra-Kumasi Road, Akosombo Dam, Resettlement Project, Bui Dam and the rail way from Accra to Paga.  Particular dangers associated with infrastructure project include the following:

• Pollution from sewerage from upstream can pollute downstream water used for drinking by those downstream, which can result in diseases like typhoid, cholera and others;

• Poor management of solid waste.-breeding ground for mosquito would cause malaria; and

• Toxic and hazardous waste from high industrialisation. Asia is estimated to exceed Europe and U.S by 2005 in sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions- which are unacceptable by the Kyoto standards.

The MDG 7 on ensuring environmental sustainability plays a key role in several of the other MDG’s. For example, it is an important component of MDG 4 on reducing child mortality since about 40% of under-five death are caused by diseases associated with environmental factors such as air pollution or consumption of unsafe water. It is also a significant factor in MDG 6-combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases since water related infrastructure and waste management affects mosquito breeding (UNICEF, 2006). It is necessary to integrate environmental effects into infrastructure investment decisions. This may involve a number of activities which include:

• Identification of negative environmental consequences from production or consumption from environmental services and having alternative ways of services delivery;

• Checking the magnitude of the project (small projects should be preferred to larger ones); and

• The use of technology should suit the environment and the context.

It is therefore relevant to consider environmental impact in providing any type of infrastructure to minimise the effects on the environment and where possible avoid degradation.

Infrastructure and Poverty Reduction:

Poverty has so many dimensions, in addition to low income (living on less than $1 a day), poor settlements have distinct features ranging from malnutrition, illiteracy, ill-health, insecurity, sense of isolation and powerlessness and environmental degradation (Green, 2012). In terms of infrastructure, the poor may be defined as those who are subject to unsanitary conditions and surroundings, those who do not have access to good health, those who are unable to consume clean water and those with limited communication which may lead to fewer employment opportunities and loss of economic opportunity.

Infrastructure is important for ensuring that growth is consistent with poverty reduction (Asian Development Bank, 2012). This is because most people live in rural areas where farmers as well as non-farm workers depend on a type of infrastructure. For instance, in China when rural commercial enterprises were given transport, power and telecommunication at the village level these enterprises were able to employ 100 million which represent 18% of the labour force and lead them to produce a third of the national output (Asian Development Bank, 2012). 

Different Types of Infrastructure and their Effects:

According to Calderón and Servén (2004), Infrastructure development can also have a disproportionate impact on the human capital of the poor, and hence on their job opportunities and income prospects. This refers not only to education, but most importantly to health.In a recent cross-country study, Leipziger et al (2003) found that a 10 percent increase in an index of water and sanitation leads to a reduction of child and infant mortality by 4-5 percent, and maternal mortality by 8 percent. Thus, such infrastructure improvement may save 9 children under 5 years old (for each 1,000 live births) and nearly 100 mothers (for each 100,000 live births) for a poor country like Central African Republic.

Brenneman and Kerf (2002) summarize some recent evidence on these impacts. Regarding education, a better transportation system and a safer road network help raise attendance to schools. Again, transport expands opportunities for non farm employment in rural areas and raises productivity which in turn raises incomes. Electricity also allows more time for study and the use of computers (Leipziger et al. 2003). In Argentina, for example, a recent study by Galiani et al. (2002) concludes that expanded access to water and sanitation has reduced child mortality by 8 percent, with most of the reduction taking place in low income areas where the expansion in the water network was the largest.

Infrastructure construction and maintenance has gone a long way to reduce poverty in Botswana and India and increased incomes (Fosu, 2010). In Ghana improved rural road travel reliability introduced by Department of Feeder Roads was in the bid to have the added impact of expanding access to social services and employment opportunities especially to women and to those living in poverty (Ministry of Roads and Highways, 2012).

Conclusion:

Generally, the literature review has introduced infrastructure provision as an increasingly prominent discourse in both developed and developing countries. It is important to note that, good infrastructure has the potential of raising productivity and lowers production costs, but it has to expand fast enough to accommodate growth. In contrast to infrastructure advantages, it is relevant to consider environmental impact in providing any type of infrastructure to minimize the effects on the environment and where possible avoid degradation.

Conclusively, it must however be emphasized that infrastructural provision is not necessarily only green-wash. There are exceptions to the general trends considered above and furthermore, the benefits and prospects associated with infrastructural provision do represent important development contributions. In that regard, it is recommended that providers draw a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan, and commit the required financial and human resources to monitoring and evaluation. Also, all stakeholders should also ensure that payments are made for the maintenance of facilities as this will help sustain the infrastructure and consequently reduce poverty and enhance overall development.